Notes on France & Japan
Essays, explainers and love letters to the two cultures behind the tees. Fun, occasionally wry, always curious.
The skiing is excellent. The hour after it is the point. Notes from the 4pm terrace, with vin chaud.
Read →FranceSix billion loaves a year, a 1993 law, and UNESCO protection. How a simple loaf became the thing France refused to let die.
Read →FranceSkip it in a French shop and you have not saved a second. You have started an argument you cannot hear.
Read →FranceFrom a burning stump in the hearth to the pâtisserie's annual arms race. The delicious history of France's Christmas log.
Read →FranceIt arrived from Vienna as a plain crescent roll. France added the butter, the layers, and an entire morning ritual.
Read →JapanThe blossoms open, the forecasts argue, and someone junior gets sent to sit on a tarp at dawn. A guide to sakura season and the art of showing up on time.
Read →FranceHam, cheese, baguette, butter. How the humblest sandwich in Paris became a national institution.
Read →JapanOnigiri at 3am, fried chicken that inspires devotion, and shelves run like a Swiss watch. Inside Japan's greatest cultural institution.
Read →JapanJapan has a greeting for every hour and every hierarchy. What konnichiwa really signals, and what to say instead.
Read →FranceOne title politely asked about your love life, the other did not. In 2012 France chose, at least on paper.
Read →FranceIt means thank you, no thank you, and please stop talking to me. A field guide to the word France says forty times a day.
Read →JapanIt began as a luxury, became a war ration, and ended up in a bowl beside breakfast all over Japan. A short history of miso, the fermented paste that refuses to be just a soup.
Read →JapanIt is not hello, exactly. It is a small proof that you are human, awake, and actually on the line, inherited from the age of operators and crackle.
Read →JapanStrip down, wash up, climb into scalding water with a dozen silent strangers. Why Japan's hot-spring baths are the most relaxing hour of your trip.
Read →JapanIn Japan, quiet noodles are suspicious noodles. A short defence of slurping, fast eating, and the sacred ramen counter.
Read →FranceBrigitte Bardot, bare feet, and a film that changed everything. Why Saint-Tropez still means the perfect summer.
Read →JapanIt means no, forbidden, useless, don't, and about six other things. A short guide to the hardest-working word in Japanese.
Read →JapanIn the country of the bullet train, the most useful instruction might be the one that tells you to slow down.
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